Vivian Cook Second Language Learning

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Presented by Javad Zamani

2. Language conveys meanings from one person to another through
spoken sounds, written letters or gestures.
Speakers know how to pronounce the words, sentences and
utterances of their native language.
The phonologies of languages differ in terms of which sounds they use,
in the ways they structure sounds into syllables, and in how they use
intonation.
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3. Talking about the sounds of language necessitates some way of
writing down the sounds without reference to ordinary written
language.
Phonetic alphabet: a way of transcribing the sounds of speech
through a carefully designed set of symbols, as in the IPA
(International Phonetics Alphabet).
Which supplies symbols for all the sounds that could occur in human
languages.
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4. A transcript that records sheer phonetic sounds is independent of
language and so uses the full IPA chart; usually this is put in square
brackets, for example [tin].
A transcript of the significant sounds in the phonological systems of a
particular language is usually given in slant brackets, say, English
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5. Phonemes and second language acquisition
Phonemes: the sounds of a language that are systematically
distinguished from each other, for example, /s/ from /t/ in ‘same’ and
‘tame’.
Allophones: different forms of the phoneme in particular contexts,
for example, the aspirate /p/ (with a puff of air) in ‘pill’ versus the
unaspirated /p/ (with- out a puff of air) in ‘lip’.
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6. The problem for second language acquisition is that each
language has its own set of phonemes and allophones.Two
phonemes in one language may correspond to two allophones
of the same phoneme in another language, or may not exist at
all.
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7. When the phonemes of spoken language connect one-to-one to
the letters of alphabetic written language, the writing system is
called transparent, as in Finnish or Italian.The English writing
system is far from transparent because there are many more
sounds than letters to go round: 44 phonemes will not go into 26
letters.
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8. For many years the concept of phoneme has proved useful in
organizing materials for teaching pronunciation, but how?
The student learn how to distinguish one phoneme from
another by hearing and repeating sentences.
Like the teaching of structural grammar, this activity
emphasizes practice rather than communication and sees
pronunciation as a set of habits for producing sounds.
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9. Phoneme learning
Learning of phoneme by the learners went through three stages:
1 Presystemic. At this stage learners learn the sounds in individual
words but without any overall pattern.
2 Transfer. Now the learners start to treat the second language
sounds systematically as equivalent to the sounds of their first
language.
3 Approximative. Finally the learners realize their native sounds are
not good enough and attempt to restructure the L2 sounds in a new
system.
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10. Learning below the phoneme level
For many purposes the phoneme cannot give the whole picture
of pronunciation.
Different phonemes share common features which will present
a learning problem that stretches across several phonemes.
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11. Voice OnsetTime (VOT)
It is the moment when voicing starts during the production of a
consonant.
The interval of time between the consonant and the following
vowel.
For example: One of the differences between pairs of plosive
consonants such as
/p---b/ and /k---g/.
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12. The voicing of the vowel can start more or less at the
same moment as the release of the obstruction by the
tongue or the lips; this will then sound like a voiced /b/
‘boss’ / ‘go’. Or voicing can start a few milliseconds after
the release of the plosive, yielding voiceless /p/ ‘pod’, ’
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13. Distinctive feature
It is the minimal difference that may distinguish phonemes.
Many theories of phonology see the phoneme as built up of a
number of distinctive features.
For example the English /p---b/ contrast is made up of features
such as:
fortis/lenis: /p/ is a fortis consonant, said with extra energy, like
/k---t/, while /b/ is a lenis consonant, said with less energy, like
/g---d/.
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14. Voice: /p/ is a voiceless consonant in which the vocal cords do
not vibrate, like /t---k/, while /b/ is a voiced consonant during
which the vocal cords vibrate, like /g---d/.
Aspiration: /p/ is aspirated like /t/, while /b/ is unaspirated, like
/d/.
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15. These distinctive features do not belong just to these six
phonemes, but potentially to all phonemes.
All the differences between phonemes can be reduced to about
19 of these distinctive features.
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16. In some languages a distinctive feature may be crucial to a
phonemic difference, while in others it may contribute to an
allophone.
The characteristics of a foreign accent often reside in these
distinctive features.
It is often the feature that gives trouble, not the individual
phoneme.
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17. Learning syllable structure
Syllable: a unit of phonology consisting of a structure of
phonemes, stresses, and so on.
Phonemes are part of the phonological structure of the
sentence, not just items strung together like beads on a
necklace. In particular they form part of the structure of
syllables.
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18. syllable structure
How consonants (C) and vowels (V) may be combined into
syllables in a particular language, for example, English has CVC
syllables while Japanese has CV.
One way of analysing syllables is in terms of consonants, and
vowels.
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19. The simplest syllable consists of a vowelV as in /ai/ ‘eye’.
Another type of syllable combines a single consonant with a
vowel, CV as in /tai/ ‘tie’.
A third syllable structure allows combinations of CVC as in /tait/
‘tight’.
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20. CVC languages vary in how many consonants can come at the
beginning or end of the syllable.
One difficulty for the L2 learner comes from how the
consonants combine with each other to make CC – the
permissible consonant clusters.
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21. The compulsory vowel in the English syllable can be preceded
or followed by one or more consonants.
Longer clusters of three or four consonants can also occur, but
the syllable structure of some languages allows only a single
consonant before or after the vowel.
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22. Epenthesis
L2 learners often try by one means or another to make English
clusters fit their first languages.
This process known as epenthesis.
Epenthesis is padding out the syllable by adding extra vowels or
consonants; for example, ‘Espain’ for ‘Spain’.
An alternative strategy is to leave consonants out of words if
they are not allowed in the LI, this is the process of
‘simplification’.
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23. General ideas about phonology learning
Accent versus Dialect: an accent is a way of pronouncing a
language that is typical of a particular group, whether regional
or social; a dialect is the whole system characteristic of a
particular group, including grammar and vocabulary, and so on,
as well as pronunciation.
Transfer: carrying over elements of one language one knows to
another, whether L1 to L2 or L2 to L1 (reverse transfer).
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24. The reason for pronunciation problems has been called cross-
linguistic transfer: a person who knows two languages transfers
some aspect from one language to another.
What can be transferred depends on the relationship between
the two languages that it has three possibilities:
1 The first language has neither of the contrasting L2 sounds
2 The second language has one of the L2 sounds
3 The second language has both sounds as allophones of the
same phoneme.
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25. The combination that appears the trickiest to deal with is in fact
when two allophones of one L1 phoneme appear as two
phonemes in the second language.
The more similar the two phonemes may be in the L1 and the
L2, the more deceptive it may be.
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26. The first language phonology affects the acquisition of the
second through transfer because the learner projects qualities of
the first language onto the second.
The same happens in reverse in that people who speak a second
language have a slightly different accent in their first language
from monolinguals.
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27. L2 and universal processes of acquisition
As well as transfer, L2 learners make use of universal processes
common to all learners.
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28. Choosing a model for teaching
pronunciation
The usual model for teaching is a status form of the language
within a country.
RP (received pronunciation): the usual accent of British English
given in books about English.
SAE: the acronym of Standard American English the usual
accent that is spread in USA.
These status accents are spoken by a small minority of
speakers, even if many others shift their original accents
towards them to get on, say, in politics or broadcasting.
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29. So the phonemes and intonation of a particular language that
are taught to students should vary according to the choice of
regional or status form.
Most native speaker teachers have some problems in
consistently using the appropriate model.
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30. An additional problem in choosing a model comes when a
language is spoken in many countries.
English as lingua franca (ELF): English used as a means of
communication among people with different first languages
rather than between natives.
A global language such as English faces the problem not just of
which local variety within a country to teach, but of which
country to take as a model.
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31. Also a teacher can choose his model with regard to the
student’s target needs.
The problem is native speaker expectation: natives often expect
non-natives to have an approximation to a status accent.
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32. Recently people have been challenging the centrality of the
native speaker as a model, they looking for an accent that is
maximally comprehensible by non-native speakers, leaving the
native speaker out of the equation except for those who have to
deal with them.
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33. Learning and teaching pronunciation
Most language teachers use ‘integrated pronunciation
teaching’, in which pronunciation is taught as an incidental to
other aspects of language.
One clear implication from SLA research is that the learning of
sounds is not just a matter of mastering the L2 phonemes and
their predictable variants. At one level, it means learning the
rules of pronunciation for the language, at another level, it is
learning precise control overVOT.
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34. While phonemes are indeed important, pronunciation
difficulties often have to do with general effects, so language
teaching should pay more attention to such general features of
pronunciation rather than the phoneme.
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35. Understanding how to help students’ pronunciation means
relating the faults first to their current interlanguage and only
secondly to the target.
The differences between their speech and that of native
speakers should not be corrected without taking into account
both the interlanguage and the target system.
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36. standard techniques for teaching
pronunciation
Use of phonetic script: students are sometimes helped by
looking at phonetic transcripts of spoken language using IPA or
by making transcripts of speech themselves.
Imitation: At one level, this is impromptu repetition at the
teacher’s command; at another, repetition of dialogues in the
language laboratory sentence by sentence. Of course, repetition
may not be helpful without feedback.
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37. Discrimination of sounds
Audio-lingual teaching believed that, if you cannot hear a
distinction, you cannot make it.
The dangers include the unreality of such pairs as ‘sink/think’
taken out of any context, the rarity of some of the words used
and the overdependence on the phoneme rather than the
distinctive feature and the syllable.
It is useful if it is treated as building up the overall pronunciation
system in the students’ minds, not as learning the difference
between two phonemes.
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38. Consciousness raising
We can use exercises to make students more aware of
pronunciation in general, say, listening to tapes to discover
aspects such as the speaker’s sex, age, education, region, or the
formality of the situation. In other words, rather than
concentrating on specific aspects of speech, the students’ ears
are trained to hear things better.
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39. Communication
In principle, pronunciation materials could use the actual
problems of communication as a basis for teaching.
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40. Learning and teaching intonation
Intonation: the systematic rise and fall in the pitch of the voice during
speech.
Nuclear tone: significant changes in pitch on one or more syllables.
While people agree that intonation is important, they disagree on its
function.
Intonation used for a)making questions as in English or French, and b)to
convey emotions and attitude.
Intonation also varies between speakers for example there is an overall
difference between British and American patterns.
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41. Tone language vs. Intonation language
Tone language is a language in which words are separated by
intonation, for instance, Chinese.
In tone languages a tone functions like a phoneme in that it
distinguishes words with different meanings.
In intonation languages the intonation pattern has a number of
functions; it may distinguish grammatical constructions, it may
show discourse connections, it may hint at the speakers’
attitudes.
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42. Tone languages are stored in the left side of the brain along with
the vocabulary, while intonation languages are stored in the
right side along with other emotional aspects of thinking.
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43. L2 learners may have major problems when going from an intonation
language such as English to a tone language such as Chinese, and vice
versa. Hence people have foundChinese speaking English to be
comparatively unemotional, simply because the speakers are unused to
conveying emotion though intonation patterns, while in reverse, English
learners of Chinese make lexical mistakes because they are not used to
using intonation to distinguish lexical meanings.
Intonation mistakes can be dangerous because it is not obvious to the
participants that a mistake has been made.
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44. With languages of the same type, say, English speakers learning
Spanish, another intonation language, there are few problems
with intonation patterns that are similar in the first and second
languages.The problems come when the characteristics of the
first language are transferred to the second.
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45. Teaching intonation
Some teaching techniques for intonation aim to make the
student aware of the nature of intonation rather than to
improve specific aspects.
Teaching exercises can link specific features of intonation to
communication. For example, the exercise ‘Deaf Mr. Jones’ in
Using Intonation (Cook, 1979).
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46. Thank you
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